Chapter 4: That Vial
Lizzie smiled as she practiced with her new shield in the training room, pleased to find it easy for her to handle as she jumped, flipped, and twisted with it, also pleased that her new uniform was easy to move in, even if they were too big on her. The girl moved gracefully through the fighting styles, trying to adapt them to her shield. And just as she had found the right one to start with, it happened.
Lizzie groaned as her head started to pound, her vision going blurry. But instead of stopping as she had done before, she reached into one of the pockets on her belt and retrieved the vial Bruce had given her. With little thought she pressed it to her neck, hissing in pain as she felt it spread through her system. But she didn't focus on it long, instead forcing herself to fight through the pain until the adrenaline faded from her.
She didn't hear her father enter the room, looking for her, nor did she hear his shout when he saw the blood running from her neck. But instead of rushing to her side Steve paused, examining that wound.
Wait, what wound? Her neck was completely healed.
The man became confused, that is, until he saw the broken vial on the floor, and fear leapt into his heart. However he still didn't move, not until he saw her fall to her knees, screaming in pain. Her screams alerted everyone else to her condition, making them all rush to the training room. Nicole looked on in worry as her daughter fell to her side, clutching her head as she screamed. No one dared to move until her screams stopped, and then her parents were the first to her side. Steve about started to cry when he saw that his daughter's body had fully adapted to the super soldier gene, filling out her uniform just as he had expected it would. Nicole pouted at her daughter, reaching down to check her pulse when-
'"Ah!" Lizzie sat straight up, her skin covered in sweat and her eyes glossy and confused. She looked around for a moment before getting to her feet and dusting herself off. "Yo…"
Steve shook his head, standing beside his daughter, chuckling when he saw that his wife was now only an inch taller than her. Nicole didn't like that, kicking her husband's shin and watching him hop around on one leg before looking back at her daughter.
"Lizzie are you okay?"
"Hm? Oh yeah I'm fine. I feel great!" she rubbed her neck. "I honestly feel fine."
Steve glared half-heartedly at his wife as his shin finally stopped hurting. "Hey Bruce what was in that vial?"
The doctor smiled. "A stabilizer I made from your and Nicole's blood. I figured Elizabeth hadn't fully reacted to the gene yet, so when she told me about how she had started feeling weird when her adrenaline started pumping I thought it best to give to her."
"Und you didn't inform us, vhy?" Now it was Nicole's turn to give him that terrifying German glare. "Don't you zhink it vould have been useful information to give her parents?"
"Of course, but it just slipped my mind when that red alert went off yesterday."
"That's not an excuse!"